I feel like much of my life has been spent trying to achieve perfection.
I wanted to be the perfect daughter, the perfect wife, the perfect mother...
My house would always be clean, my makeup just so, and my girls would never misbehave.
Why would they? They would have the cutest outfits, biggest bows, coolest rooms, neatest "stuff", the most unique Valentines, the best parties. They would have it all... Their mother would be the epitome of perfection as well. She would never yell, always be helpful, and live only to serve her children.
Yeah, that was how I thought that life would be. But you see the problem with life is the life part. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have wished for a do-over but then I begin to wonder if it would help. Everyday I struggle with feeling like I messed that one up. My biggest problem though is realizing that just because I messed up once doesn't make the whole day a wash.
Take last night for instance...I am trying to shed a few inches so I have been watching my intake very carefully and yesterday I did great! Until last night that is. I was editing photos and became a little hungry so I kept saying I was ok, thinking that I would somehow be able to withstand the Atkins Indulge bars sitting beside me (bad choice). That didn't last long. I ate one and then felt like hmmm well the day is already messed up so I'm going to have another. And after that one I was still hungry so I had a piece of beef jerky and a hunk of cheese because the day was already messed up right?
Please tell me I am not alone in this...
that I am not the only one who throws away perfectly good days because I mess up once.
A funny example for sure but I guess the lesson learned is that life is life and it will never be "perfect" at least not in a definitional sense. Instead life is made up of moments and it's those moments that define us. And one messed up moment doesn't mean a messed up day...or life.
Besides do any of us really want to be perfect?
Seriously, Bethany. If you're going to "mess up", then mess up good. I've been doing p90x and running, and today I had a ding-dong (LOL! you know the chocolate cake with the icing in the middle?). I don't think Atkins bars are a big mess up. Me and food don't get along and I have been a binge eater in the past. My new philosophy is that I have to find balance between dieting and living. If you can't enjoy a little something you eat every day, what's the point? Yes, I might see better, faster results if I ate extremely strictly, but as long as I feel good and make small improvements as much as I can, I'm good with that. You are too hard on yourself! Go eat a Girl Scout cookie!
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